Mixing humor with passion, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski closed the Yalta European Conference on Sept. 21 with a plea for Ukraine to shed the Soviet legacy that both nations suffered from.
Mixing humor with passion, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski closed the Yalta European Conference on Sept. 21 with a plea for Ukraine to shed the Soviet legacy that both nations suffered from.
“This should be your slogan: ‘not a step backwards because Moscow is behind us,’” Kwasniewski told the crowd in a speech interrupted several times by cheers and applause.
His words came two months ahead of a Nov. 28-29 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, at which the European Union is considering whether to sign a free trade and political association pact with Ukraine. Moscow is trying to pull Ukraine the other way by offering it membership in a Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
As other speakers before him did, Kwasniewski asked President Viktor Yanukovych to free his nemesis, imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on humanitarian grounds to seek medical treatment abroad. Germany is considered the likely destination.
Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison sentence for signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia as prime minister, but both the West and Russia consider her to be a political prisoner. Yanukovych has not agreed to release her.
“She is sick and she needs surgery, therapy and rehabilitation,” Kwasniewski said. “The timing is open; we understand that if
you want to fulfill and eliminate all the obstacles… it would be good to do all these things before Vilnius because we would then have open doors for association. We expect that the government of Ukraine will accept this proposal we offered and will accept that she will go abroad for surgery, therapy and rehabilitation.”
Kwasniewski, president of Poland from 1995 to 2005, joked that Russia is offering “love,” a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s descriptions of Russians and Ukrainians as one people, while the EU is offering “law.”
Don’t be fooled by Putin, Kwasniewski said, noting the Kremlin’s temporary stoppages and increased inspections of Ukrainian imports.
“What kind of love is this – to blockade products – this is full perversion,” Kwasniewski, the chairman of the Yalta European Strategy board of directors, said. “This is not love.”
Kwasniewski said that Poland and Lithuania, both EU members that suffered under Soviet repression, are showing Ukraine the way forward.
“We propose law, standards, good future and very well organized economy. This is not a dream. It’s not propaganda,” Kwasniewski said.”We are the best examples that this road to Europe is possible, can be successful and can bring a lot of positive results.”
Kwasniewski said he is looking forward to the next YES conference, when “the association agreement will be signed, the economy will be going well and we will finally have Yulia Tymoshenko as our guest speaker.”
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
